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US Department of Justice Investigating Novell/CPTN Deal Further

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US Department of Justice Investigating Novell/CPTN Deal Further

by
brett
Contributions
—
Published on
Feb 04, 2011 10:51 AM

A couple of weeks ago, we posted the OSI and FSF's joint position
statement to the US Department of Justice about Novell's proposal to
sell its patents to the newly-formed CPTN Holdings. Yesterday we
learned that the DOJ has sent a "Second Letter" to both companies,
asking them to provide more information about the deal.

We're heartened to see that the DOJ is taking this issue seriously.
When proprietary software companies attack free software with patents,
that can be anticompetitive activity. The DOJ is right to investigate
and ensure that won't be a problem with this deal, and they're setting
good precedent for investigating future acquisitions.

CPTN Holdings was formed jointly by Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, and EMC
for the express purpose of buying Novell's patents. We're very
concerned that CPTN Holdings will attack free software with those
patents. That's the simplest explanation for why these competitors
cooperated for this one specific acquisition. We expect the DOJ to
get complete answers about CPTN's intentions before they approve any
sale. Their follow-up letter represents the first step in that
process.